Polycom InstantDesigner 2.0 Application Note

Polycom

Instant Designer

Version 2.0

Application Note

Polycom Installed

Voice Business

Group

September 2004

Table of Contents

1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 3

2. What Polycom InstantDesigner does for you.......................................................................... 3

3. Getting Started with Polycom InstantDesigner....................................................................... 5

Step 1 – Select Inputs .........................................................................................7

Step 2 – Select Outputs.........................................................................................10

Step 3 – Sound Reinforcement Zones .....................................................................12

Step 4 – Create Zones ......................................................................................14

Step 5 – Set Zone Gains ........................................................................................15

Step 6 – Select Devices.........................................................................................17

Step 7 – Connect Inputs and Outputs ......................................................................18

Step 8 –Select Reports..........................................................................................19

Step 9 – Finish......................................................................................................23

4. InstantDesigner Results ............................................................................................................ 23

Input Settings ......................................................................................................24

Matrix Settings ....................................................................................................25

Macro Definitions.................................................................................................25

Logic mappings....................................................................................................28

5. Uploading to Vortex Devices .................................................................................................... 30

Setting Device ID’s ...............................................................................................31

Bussing the units..................................................................................................32

Connecting via RS232 ...........................................................................................32

6. Conclusion ................................................................................................................................... 35

7. Technical Support ...................................................................................................................... 36

Polycom Installed Voice Business group Contact Information.......................36

1. Introduction

Polycom InstantDesigner™ release 2.0 is a revolutionary new way for

A/V integrators and consultants to quickly and accurately design audio and video

conferencing systems and sound reinforcement applications, with Polycom

Vortex

audio and video products. A new addition to our Conference Composer™

design software for Windows

, the patent pending Polycom InstantDesigner

guides the system designer through the steps required to create high performance

Vortex audio conferencing and sound reinforcement solutions.

The A/V integrator or consultant simply chooses the necessary inputs, outputs

(including the new Polycom VSX™ 7000 or VSX 8000 video codecs) and

optionally the sound reinforcement zones needed for the desired system, and

Polycom InstantDesigner automatically selects the appropriate Vortex devices

necessary to implement the system, maps the inputs and outputs to the devices,

and creates the Conference Composer design files required to implement the

design. It is easy to upload these design files to the Vortex devices to complete

the configuration. All of this can be done within a matter of minutes.

The Polycom InstantDesigner handles all the details of creating zone to zone

gains for sound reinforcement, configuring the acoustic echo cancellers,

interfacing to common audio and video equipment, bussing between devices,

configuring presets, creating volume control macros, and preconfiguring logic ports

for push to talk microphones.

Polycom InstantDesigner will change the way audio and video conferencing

systems are designed. The immediate benefits of using Polycom InstantDesigner

include

• Dramatically reduced design time – from hours to minutes (or less) which

means more profit to the A/V designer

• More consistent A/V designs – there is now a “Vortex expert” included with

every product purchased

• More satisfied end-users due to quicker and better installations

• Reduced learning curve for A/V specialists to confidently design larger

systems for any type of application.

Read more to learn how Polycom InstantDesigner will change the way you design

audio and video conferencing systems.

2. What Polycom InstantDesigner does for you

Polycom InstantDesigner release 2.0 encapsulates the design expertise of the

Vortex engineering team and the experience of thousands of successful audio and

video conferencing installations. We have learned both the easy way and the hard

way what works and how to best use the Vortex products. By making Polycom

InstantDesigner available to you, the A/V specialist, we want to make your job

easier and allow you to spend more time doing the things that can help your

design and integration firm be more profitable. To give you an idea of how much

the design process can be accelerated, below is a partial list of what Polycom

InstantDesigner will do for you. With just a few mouse clicks, Polycom

InstantDesigner will automatically:

• Select the Vortex equipment necessary to implement the system

• Map the input and output equipment to Vortex inputs and outputs (e.g.,

lectern microphone is input 1 on Vortex EF2280:00)

• Set the input and output gains in the Vortex required to interface to the

selected input and output equipment (e.g., most video codecs typically

require 10dB of input gain, and 5dB of output attenuation)

• Configure the automatic microphone mixer for linked operation for larger

systems

• Create all the matrix crosspoints necessary to use the resulting system

(e.g., local audio is sent to the remote site and remote audio is played back

into the room)

• Create loudspeaker zones for sound reinforcement and allow you to specify

the microphones that are part of that zone and reinforced into other zones

• Make it easy to modify the zone to zone crosspoint gains needed for sound

reinforcement across zones

• Configure all the bussing across linked devices (e.g., local microphones are

automatically sent to all devices), including sound reinforcement zone gains

• Configure the acoustic echo cancellation (e.g., the echo canceller reference

is configured and all linked devices are configured to use the bus reference)

• Customize the text labels for all inputs and outputs including the bussing

signals

• Save the settings to Preset 16 and set the power-on preset on all devices

• Create macros for muting, unmuting, and volume control

• Create logic assignments making it easy to connect push-to-talk

microphones or other hardwired control systems

• Create a project summary of the wiring connections and necessary

equipment

• Create formatted PDF reports of your system configurations

• Create a zone to zone sound reinforcement summary report

• Create a signal routing report so you can see how the signals are routed

and bussed to create the appropriate sound reinforcement zones

• Create DXF drawings of your designs

• Upload the Conference Composer project to your Vortex devices

The list keeps growing and growing. Imagine what you can do with Vortex

products now – perform more conference designs with your current team, create

new conferencing applications, build more expertise within your team, etc. If you

haven’t tried the Vortex products – you can’t afford not to.

Sit back, grab a cup of coffee, and learn how we are trying to make your job

easier.

3. Getting Started with Polycom InstantDesigner

To use Polycom InstantDesigner simply start Conference Composer. You will be

presented with the screen shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Conference Composer startup screen.

From here there are three choices

1. Autoscan for Devices retrieves the settings from the Vortex devices and

puts them into Conference Composer– this requires that you be connected

to a Vortex via an RS232 connection.

2. Create Project with Polycom InstantDesigner begins the instant design

process.

3. Open Existing Project opens a previously designed Vortex project.

Selecting Create Project with Polycom InstantDesigner will start the Polycom

InstantDesigner process and bring you to the screen in Figure 2. If you are

already running Conference Composer you may start Polycom InstantDesigner by

selecting Polycom InstantDesigner from the Project menu or using the keyboard

shortcut of Ctrl-i.

Please note that at any step in the Polycom InstantDesigner process, the Polycom

InstantDesigner information can be saved to disk by clicking on the floppy disk

icon. This is a useful and recommended step in case changes need to be made to

the configurations within Polycom InstantDesigner after the initial design process

is complete.

Clicking the help icon will provide a step by step instruction guide for using the

InstantDesigner software.

Figure 2. Polycom InstantDesigner welcome screen.

From a high level perspective as shown in Figure 3 there are two paths through

the InstantDesigner software, depending on whether sound reinforcement is

required.

Select

Devices

Connect Inputs and

Outputs

Create Conference

Composer Project

Select

Inputs

Select

Outputs

Select

Devices

Connect Inputs and

Outputs

Create Zone Reports

Use Sound

Reinforcement

No Sound Reinforcement

Use Sound

Reinforcement

Define Zones

Set Zone

Reinforcement Levels

Create Conference

Composer Project

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

Step 5

Step 6

Step 7

Step 8

Step 9

Step 4

Step 5

Step 6

Figure 3. The steps of using the InstantDesigner software – either 6 steps or 9 steps are

required depending on whether sound reinforcement is required for the design.

As we shall see, there are either 6 steps (without sound reinforcement) or 9 steps

required to design the complete audio and video conferencing system.

Click Next to start the wizardry of the Polycom InstantDesigner.

Step 1 – Select Inputs

The first step of Polycom InstantDesigner is to select the types and quantities of

inputs that are required in the audio design. The types of inputs that can be

selected include:

• Microphones – including table, ceiling, lectern, and wireless microphones

• Program audio – including both stereo and monaural consumer and

professional playback devices such as DVD players and VCRs

• SoundStation VTX 1000™ for wideband telephony

• PSTN Telephone line interfaces for narrowband telephony interfaces

• Video codecs – including Polycom VSX™ 7000, VSX 8000, ViewStation

®,

and iPower™

Select the types of input, such as Microphone and Table, choose the quantity,

adjust the text label, and then click Add Input. This will add the selected items to

the Selected Inputs text box as shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4. Polycom InstantDesigner Step 1 – Select Inputs.

In this application note, we will design a system that includes 12 table

microphones, a lectern microphone, two wireless microphones, a VSX 8000 video

codec, an analog phone line, stereo program audio, a monaural recorder, and an

assistive listening device. This room might look like the room in Figure 5.

Zone 1 Zone 2 Zone 3

Figure 5. A typical 3 zone room including 12 tabletop microphones with imaginary lines showing the different loudspeaker zones.

Please note that at any time during the Polycom InstantDesigner process you may

save your design to an InstantDesigner template file (*.idt) by selecting the floppy

icon on the lower left of the screen. The design specifications that you have

created up to that point can be restored from a saved file by selecting the folder

icon on the lower left of the screen. These Conference Composer template files

are different from the files that Conference Composer creates and can be used to

share your design intent with your team, subcontractors, etc. before the complete

Conference Composer project file is created.

After the input selections have been made, select Next to go to Step 2 – Select

Outputs.

Figure 6. Sample input selection with 12 table microphones, a lectern microphone, 2 wireless

microphones, stereo program audio, telephone interface, and a Polycom VSX 8000 video codec.

Step 2 – Select Outputs

The second step of Polycom InstantDesigner is to select the outputs that will be

used. By default, some outputs will already be selected, such as a telephony

output and a video codec output, if their respective inputs have been selected.

This automatic selection is shown in Figure 7.

The types of outputs that may be added to the system include:

• Assistive listening

• Audio amplifier channels – including monaural and stereo amplifiers

• Recording outputs – including monaural and stereo outputs

• SoundStation VTX 1000

• PSTN Telephone outputs

• Video codecs – including Polycom VSX, ViewStation, and iPower

Figure 7. Polycom InstantDesigner Step 2 -- Select Outputs

Audio amplifier channels are the monaural audio channels that are used to drive

loudspeaker zones in the room. Multi-channel amplifiers are often used in practice

and can be specified by increasing the quantity field once the audio amplifier

channel has been selected. If stereo program audio is used with the system, a

stereo amplifier should be selected, even if the stereo pair will built from two

channels of a multi-channel amplifier. This will simplify the automatic sound

reinforcement routing in the next step. In the current example three zone

amplifiers (labeled Front Speakers, Mid Speakers, and Rear Speakers) have been

selected in addition to a stereo amplifier for the stereo program audio.

As with the input selection, select the type and quantity of outputs that are needed

for the design. In the design example in this application note the output selection

will look like Figure 8.

After the output selections have been made, click Next to go to Step 3 – Sound

Reinforcement Zones.

Figure 8. Sample output selection with a telephone output, video codec output, stereo audio amplifier

for program audio, three mono amplifiers, mono recording output, and a mono assistive listening

output.

Step 3 – Sound Reinforcement Zones

The next step for InstantDesigner is to determine whether to use sound

reinforcement zones as shown in Figure 9. Sound reinforcement allows the

designer to create loudspeaker zones, place microphones into these zones, and

control the amount of reinforcement of the microphones into neighboring

loudspeaker zones. Microphones that are placed in a loudspeaker zone are NOT

reinforced into the same loudspeaker zone – the microphones will only be

reinforced into other loudspeaker zones.

Answering No to question posed in Step 3 will move the designer to the next step

in the process, Select Devices. This step is described in the section entitled Step 6

– Select Devices.

Answering Yes to the question posed in Step 3 will show the screen in Figure 10,

emphasizing that microphones from one loudspeaker zone will be reinforced into

other loudspeaker zones with the blue microphone audio and green microphone

audio indicating different loudspeaker zones. Answering Yes also increases the

number of steps in the process from 6 to 9 as additional information is required to

properly configure the loudspeaker zones (see Figure 3).

Figure 9. Step 3 where the designer does NOT want to use sound reinforcement.

Figure 10. Step 3 where the designer does want to use sound reinforcement. Notice the microphone

and loudspeaker audio in the two zones.

Figure 11. Default sound reinforcement zone definitions.

Once the designer has decided whether to use zoned sound reinforcement, the

next step, if reinforcement is required, will be to define the zones as shown in

Figure 11.

Step 4 – Create Zones

Reviewing the screen in Figure 11, notice that three amplifier zones were created,

matching the selection of three amplifier channels selected in Step 2. The zones

are labeled Zone 1, Zone 2, and Zone 3 and they include the amplifier channels:

Front Speakers, Mid Speakers, and Rear Speakers, respectively, corresponding to

the amplifier channel names selected previously. Please note that the stereo

amplifier channels are not included as zone amplifiers in the sound reinforcement

steps of Polycom InstantDesigner.

The microphones were automatically evenly divided into the loudspeaker zones

with 4 microphones being placed into each loudspeaker zone. If the design

requirements differ from this default, the microphones may be easily moved to the

desired zones by selecting Manually Define Sound Reinforcement Zones and

dragging the microphones into the appropriate zone.

A presenter zone was automatically created because presenter style microphones

(lectern and wireless microphones) were selected in Step 1. The presenter zone

has no amplifier associated with it, but includes the three microphones (lectern,

wireless microphone 1 and wireless microphone 2) that are used for reinforcement

into the entire room through the three amplifier zones for this example. If the

design requires that the presenter microphones be physically located in a

loudspeaker zone (due to room layout constraints or design preference), it is

possible to either add these microphones to an existing zone (Zone 1, 2, or 3 as

shown in Figure 12). Please note if the presenter microphones are moved into

Zone 1, these microphones will not be reinforced into Zone 1 but will be reinforced

into Zone 2 and Zone 3 with the reinforcement levels to be specified in the next

step.

Figure 12. The presenter microphones (lectern, wireless 1, and wireless 2) were moved to Zone 1 in

this figure.

Continuing this example, we will leave the presenter microphones in the presenter

zone and the other microphones in their respective zones as shown in Figure 11.

The next step is to specify the amount of the sound reinforcement required across

zones.

Step 5 – Set Zone Gains

Step 5 (when using zoned reinforcement) allows the designer to specify the levels

used to reinforce microphones into different loudspeaker zones. As shown in

Figure 13, the microphone zones on the left include the microphone definitions for

each zone – holding the mouse over the zone name will show which microphones

are in that zone. The amplifier zones on the top represent the loudspeaker zones

– holding the mouse over the zone name on the top will show which amplifier is in

that zone.

By default each zone of microphones is mapped to the remaining loudspeaker

zones with a gain of -30dB. In this zone matrix view, the columns are summed to

create the outputs to the loudspeaker amplifier zones. For example, in Figure 13,

the reinforcement for Zone 1 is the sum of the microphones in Zone 2 (attenuated

by 30dB) the microphones from Zone 3 (attenuated by 30dB), and the presenter

microphones (also attenuated by 30dB). Please note that the microphones from

Zone 1 are NOT included in the output for Zone 1 and consequently the crosspoint

is grayed out to minimize the occurrence of acoustic feedback from a microphone

in a zone being reinforced into the same zone.

Figure 13. Default Zone gain matrix for this example.

The reinforcement levels from microphones to loudspeaker zones can be adjusted

by left clicking on the appropriate crosspoint and adjusting the slider that appears

on the left. Figure 14 shows setting the Zone 2 to Zone 1 reinforcement level to -

18dB.

The amount of reinforcement required will depend on the room design, the

physical separation between zones, and the style and placement of microphones

and loudspeakers. A conservative reinforcement level is recommended as a

starting point to minimize the incidence of acoustic feedback within the room.

After configuring the devices with the specified room reinforcement level, it is

possible to change the reinforcement levels either in the Vortex devices by

manually adjusting crosspoint gains, or by re-running the InstantDesigner and

adjusting the zone matrix and re-uploading the configuration file to the Vortex

devices.

Figure 14. The reinforcement level for the microphones in Zone 2 to loudspeakers in Zone 1

is set to -18dB.

In Figure 14, the reinforcement level between adjacent zones was adjusted to

-18dB and the reinforcement level between zones two zones apart was -12dB.

These zone gains will be used to create the routing and mapping through the

Vortex matrix and bus matrices.

After the reinforcement levels have been specified, the next step is to determine

the equipment required to implement the design. If sound reinforcement was

used, this will be step 6; if sound reinforcement was not used, the next step will be

step 4.

Step 6 – Select Devices

The next step for InstantDesigner is to select the Vortex devices that are required

to implement the system. The two criteria for automatically selecting these

devices are minimum cost or minimum rack space. Minimum cost selects the

equipment with the lowest list price while minimum rack space selects the

equipment that requires the fewest rack spaces. The default method is to choose

the equipment that has the minimum cost, but there are times where the minimum

rack space selection may be preferable. For many systems, but not all, the two

results are the same.

There is also an option for manually selecting the equipment in case there is

specific equipment to be used in the installation. To use this option, select Manual

and then select Add Device to add devices to the selection. To delete devices,

select the device and click Delete Device. Please note that if you manually select

devices and then select Automatically Select Devices, your manual selections will

be overwritten with the automatic selection.

In this example, the automatic method of selecting devices was used and the

resulting equipment list consists of 2 Vortex EF2280’s and 1 Vortex EF2201 as

shown in Figure 15. In addition to the device selection, this window shows the

number of unused microphones, line inputs, line outputs, and telephone

connections that are presently unused with the equipment selection. In our

example, there is 1 microphone input, 6 line level inputs and 16 line level outputs

available.

Select Next to go to Step 4 – Connecting Inputs and Outputs.

Figure 15. Polycom InstantDesigner Step 6 -- Selecting the devices shows the automatic equipment

selection.

Step 7 – Connect Inputs and Outputs

The next step for Polycom InstantDesigner is to determine how to connect the

inputs and outputs to the actual device inputs and outputs. This process is done

automatically, but the signals can be manually moved around – when not using

sound reinforcement – by selecting Manually Connect Inputs and Outputs and

dragging the appropriate input or output to the desired location.

After mapping the inputs and outputs to the device inputs and outputs, Select Next

to go to Step 8 – Reports.

Figure 16. Polycom InstantDesigner Step 7 -- Connect Inputs and Outputs

Step 8 –Select Reports

When using sound reinforcement, there are two new reports that are available for

the system designer – a zone matrix report, and a signal routing report. These

report options are shown in Figure 17.

Figure 17. The zone reports that can be generated when using sound reinforcement.

The zone matrix report is a spreadsheet that summarizes the zone reinforcement

gains for the inputs and outputs. An example of this report showing the zones,

zone inputs and outputs, zone reinforcement crosspoints, and the devices that

inputs are connected to is shown in Table 1. The zone matrix report is created at

Step 9 at the same time the complete Conference Composer design file is created.

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Polycom InstantDesigner 2.0, Vortex EF2201, Vortex EF2210, Vortex EF2211, Vortex EF2241, Vortex EF2280 Application Note

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